Melbourne weather: City records windy, dry July
Gale-force winds swayed the city on Monday night as Melbourne capped off one of its windiest Julys in 20 years and its driest July since 2001.
Gusts up to 85km/h were recorded between midnight and 2am. The peak was recorded at Fawkner beacon in Port Phillip Bay at 12.50am. A gust of 70km/h was recorded at Melbourne Airport at the same time.
A severe weather warning for damaging winds is still current south of Frankston, and around Phillip and French islands.
Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Michael Efron said Melburnians would have grown accustomed to being buffeted in what was one of the windiest Julys in 20 years.
A number of vigorous cold fronts crossed the state during the month, bringing wind instead of the usual rainfall.
On July 17 in particular, a gust of 126km/h was recorded at South Channel Island. The same winds brought a gust of 91km/h to Melbourne Airport and 100km/h to Ballarat.
Over the Mallee, the winds created a dust storm, highly unusual for this time of year.
Mr Efron said Melbourne would record less than half its average July rainfall.
July's rainfall tally closes at 9am Tuesday. Unless we get significant rain by then, we'll only record 19 millimetres for the month. That's 0.6mm less than July 2002 but not as little as July 2001, which recorded only 12.4mm.
The average rainfall for July is 48mm.
"It's really dry in Melbourne," Mr Efron said.
Melburnians also suffered through a brisk night on Monday, as the wind forced apparent temperatures down to four degrees.
The cold front brought a smattering of snow across the Grampians and a dump throughout alpine areas.
The winds will continue on Tuesday morning. It'll be a mostly sunny day, leading into a showery evening with likely hail and thunder.